Archive | conservation RSS feed for this section

Persimmons

22 Jun
12 seeds planted. These FOUR sprouted.
Fresh native persimmons (fall 2021)
Persimmons Fall 2021 Central Indian

Back story and the reason for celebrating FOUR persimmon seedlings.

Fall 2019: Content and failed trial inspired by

“How to Grow Oak Trees from Acorns” Shelly Wigglesworth Oct 16, 2018, published in New England Today, Living

I like the idea of refrigerating with peat and barley in a sealed container over winter.

Shelly recommended discarding acorns with pin holes.  They are made by “inch” worms exiting the hull.  I believe the worms enter under the cap.  After checking closely and drying  about two weeks, I discarded 20 acorns of the 60+ I had gathered from our backyard.

Here we “grow” again…today March 11, 2020…

Responding to the loss oak seedlings ruined by squirrels going for the meat of the acorn…I have turned the table!  Using a small cage to keep wild life out and protect future tree…rather than keep animals IN.  45 acorns in peat pots.

Hmmmm…what yield will we have? ZERO 😦

Tags: , ,

Book Review: The Winding Ways Quilt

26 Sep

 

I have had quilts all my life…gifts from both grandmothers and a bonus from Great grandmother Hall (photo on the “About” page).

Until I browsed the aisles of the Used Book Store in White Pine, TN I did not know there was a series of books on quilts and quilting.  I bought four of the series by Jennifer Chiaverini.  Jennifer is delightful…delving the reader in the process of quilt making, choosing fabrics, patterns and the network of friendships that develop along the way.

Other books by Jennifer Chiaverini:  An Elm Creek Quilt Sampler, An Elm Creek Quilts Album, Circle of Quilters, The Wedding Quilt, The Giving Quilt, The Winding Ways Quilt and The Aloha Quilt

Of course on my return trip to the Used book store I find two more authors…

Jan Cerney and Arlene Sachitano both with multiple titles.

 

White Pine Used Books, 1703 Main Street, White Pine, TN

Tags: , , , , , ,

Book Review: A Drop in the Ocean

11 Aug

Jenni Ogden skillfully juxtaposes:  University based health care research scientists and Wildlife researchers in the Great Barrier Reef.

Perhaps one could say Jenni developed a matrix juxtapositions of scientists and researchers in settings of…

Island life where supplies are delivered every two weeks…no utilities or ground transportation in the Southern Hemisphere contrasting with one of the oldest communities in Europe…Unst, the northern most inhabited island in the British Isles.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Spring Gardening or…

9 Apr

what are they?

 

Spoiler alert:  Amazon sells them.  (That is how I discovered the name.)

I have been in garden centers often over the years and never saw one.  I acquired them from an estate a couple of years ago.    They are:

rotary tillers (with a broom type handle)

Applied testing:  It does a nice job freshening up last year’s mulch and also works well mixing homemade compost with clay type soil.

 

Tags: , , , ,

Acorns: Spring planting

11 Mar

We removed dozens of trees @ Owl Creek in 2019…Some had been dead for a long time…  Some were volunteers too close to driveways or barn…Some were contortions of trees…bent, split, broken.  Several logging projects in the past 50 years harvested hard woods…walnut, maple and oak trees.  Our understanding is that oak seedlings are difficult to locate.

 

To get 2020 spring plants off to a bigger start, I gathered acorns from the backyard.  Mostly green, squirrels had not run off with them.

“How to Grow Oak Trees from Acorns” Shelly Wigglesworth Oct 16, 2018, published in New England Today, Living

https://newengland.com/today/living/gardening/how-to-grow-oak-trees-from-acorns/

I like the idea of refrigerating with peat and barley in a sealed container over winter.

Shelly recommended discarding acorns with pin holes.  They are made by “inch” worms exiting the hull.  I believe the worms enter under the cap.  After checking closely and drying  about two weeks, I discarded 20 acorns of the 60+ I had gathered from our backyard.

Here we “grow” again…today March 11, 2020…

Responding to the loss oak seedlings ruined by squirrels going for the meat of the acorn…I have turn the table!  Using a small cage to keep wild life out and protect future tree…rather than keep animals IN.  45 acorns in peat pots.

Hmmmm…what yield will we have?

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Makes cents!

18 Nov

“Regenerative agriculture claims that the solution doesn’t lie in new technology or mass machinery. It may be right in front of us: livestock.”

Check out this article from the Huffington Post:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/meat-save-planet-regenerative-farming_l_5d261f7ae4b0583e482b0192?guccounter=1

 

Check out this article from Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group:

https://www.ssawg.org/ssawg-blawg/2019/8/15/the-impossible-pasture

“We have this huge planetary food system enhanced by synthetic fertilizers and chemicals, but there are ways to balance that out now, and that’s through raising animals in balance with the ecosystem’s restoration. Nothing else can do what a cow or sheep or buffalo can do.”

– Jack Algiere, farm director at Stone Barns for Food and Agriculture

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This corner of the yard

15 Aug

has been reserved for compost of tree, shrub and yard debris for years.  The black compost bin in the background hasn’t stayed together even with a “zip tie” fix.  Time to shop!

Found on Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085O6NXQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The cylinder in the foreground has an open bottom.  It was unrolled and secured with three plastic pieces that work like a key and lock inserted in slots.  The size is adjustable.  It is possible to expand the circumference an additional two feet.  Also, I could go smaller.

Last summer between kitchen, garden and yard waste, we yielded about 200 pounds of compost which we used at our remote garden site (future post).  We are on track with another 200 pounds…Eight  repurposed  cat  litter  buckets  filled (20 pounds each).  Two  more  to  go!

Tags: , , , , ,

Book Review: The History of Bees, A Novel

2 Jul

My interest in bee keeping is shown on the Beehaven@OwlCreek tab above.

I struggled with this book.  I also appreciate the story.  Well over half way thru the book, I felt that I was reading multiple Twitter feeds.  Some characters lived in the 1800s, some in the present and some in the future.  The author does bring it together in the end.  If I had first read the Reading Group Guide on page 340 of my digital version, I would not have been so frustrated.

The contents include valuable information about commercial hives and the highly productive, delicate life cycle of bees.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

First you hear them, then you see them

14 Mar

Sandhill cranes 2019 spring migration.

Check out this video:

Sandhill cranes fly in a “V” formation at a fairly high altitude.  The image is faint as they move from right to left across the screen.

We have been lucky to be outdoors in the early afternoon frequently this spring.  It appears to be the best time to see them in flight…over a half dozen times (central Indiana).

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sandhill_Crane/sounds  (There are 3 audio clips.)

View one of Indiana’s greatest wildlife spectacles at Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area. Each fall, thousands of Sandhill Cranes visit the area’s shallow marshes.

I was introduced to sandhill cranes 20 years ago at the Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area.  They feed and stay overnight during their migration.  Large groups are VERY loud and not a pleasant chorus.  However, it is VERY impressive and you remember their chatter.  I love spotting them on the move.  You hear them first!

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Dirty job: composting

27 Jun

Yard compost bin

Yard

Kitchen compost bin

Kitchen

 

Compost bins

 

 

 

 

 

Composting is both a dirty job and “Black gold” to enrich vegetable garden….this season’s yield…200 pounds!

For eighteen years, I have used a three step process to mitigate the slime and smell of kitchen waste.  This year I added a fourth step.

  1. Compost kitchen and garden waste (very slimy and smelly)
  2. Compost yard waste (primarily trimmings of perennial flowers).
  3. Add kitchen compost to yard waste = black gold
  4. Top off with ashes from fire pit for enrichment

All gardening starts with dirt.  Yes, it is less expensive and messy to buy compost by the bag at garden centers.  Homemade is better.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries